Chapter Seventy-Five

Chapter totally dedicated to x going nowhere because she's been making really long, awesome reviews. And who the following chapter is inspired by.

"Tess? Tess?" I called. I was looking for my sister-in-law, who'd gone AWOL upon seeing her aunt and her best friend go at it.

My ears perked up when I heard a sniffle in the far corner of the guest bedroom. I walked slowly toward it and sank down to the ground when I saw Tess crying her eyes out, her arms on her rounded belly.

"Tessie, what's wrong?" I asked tenderly.

"What ever happened to me, Cal?" she asked.

"What?"

"Look, last year I was a straight A student, a star athlete, one of the most popular freshman, everything anyone wanted. Like a younger version of you. And now I'm pregnant. The father's abandoned, me, and this is a guy I once thought I loved. And he cheated on me with my best friend. My best friend, Callie. And now the only person I know is always going to be there, always, has let his hormones get the better of him. She's my aunt. What kind of person does that with someone's aunt?" she sobbed. I put my arms around her and she leaned into me.

"I think John doesn't know how you feel about him," I said slowly.

"I don't feel that for him," she said stubbornly.

"I think you do," I said, as my cellphone rang. I prepared to ignore it.

"Go, talk, I want to be alone," she muttered. Reluctantly I stood.

"Callie?" asked a cheerful voice in my ear.

"Oh my God, Jen, how could you not tell us?" I asked, once I was out of earshot of Tess.

"About what?"

"Lucy!" I raged.

"Oh, Nikki's daughter? She asked me not to," she explained.

"That's all she said? Did she also explain that Lucy is my half aunt… in law?" I asked, pausing as I attempted to figure out the link. Through the phone, I heard Jenny do the same thing.

"Dan?" she squeaked.

"Uh, yeah! Not to mention that Lucy is an uberbitch. Which is kind of inevitable, if you come from those two, but as we speak she's making out with John!" I said angrily.

"Tess' John?" she asked in a small voice. Jenny was slightly out of the loop.

"Yeah, Tess' John who used to be my John that was never, ever supposed to be Lucy's John! So Nikki didn't tell you who her father was?" I inquired interestedly.

"Nope. Said I didn't know him. Lucy wasn't around much, bit of a wild child," she explained.

"She crash landed here a couple weeks ago. She's a hell raiser," I complained.

"Yeah. Sometimes she has a breakthrough though, you know? Like she tries harder to do better or something," explained Jenny.

"Yeah, saw that, fell for it," I said.

"Poor Tess. How's she doing? And BTW, what about the elephant in the room? How are you, sweetie?" she asked.

"Pregnant."

"Oh God. What did Sawyer say?" she asked, her breath bated.

"That he'd be father to it, whatever tests say," I said.

"You got lucky with him," she said. I detected something more than mere happiness for her baby sister.

"Jenny, I have to ask. The day when Sawyer… you know, just before you blacked out, you looked him right in the eye and told him you loved him. What did you mean?" I asked.

"It doesn't matter. Really it doesn't. He loves you. You've won," she said.

"You're in love with him?" I asked.

"Who could not be?" she asked.

"None of the Jagielski girls, as it turns out. I hate to say this, but I'm lucky. He used to be in love with you. I'm glad that never happened," I whispered.

"He wasn't in love with me. Not really. He thought he was. He wanted to be, because being in love with you was so damn complicated. He was in lust with me, perhaps. Always Sawyer Scott was in love with you," she said. A grain of sadness crept into her voice, and I felt sadder for her than I ever had before. My sister had nothing, and I had everything.

"I'm so, so sorry," I whispered into the phone.

"Don't be. You've made me believe in soul mates, Squirt. I love you, little girl," she said. I smiled through my tears.

"I love you too… Po," I said. I could hear her smile through the phone. Somehow it's vibration got to me and shined all the way from Rhode Island.

She hung up the phone. I wandered into my old room, threw myself on my bed and cried my eyes out.

"Cal?" came a voice nervously, twenty minutes later. Sawyer came and sat on the edge of the bed. I rolled over to face him.

"I love you," I said.

"I love you too," he said in confusion.

"No, I really love you. So, so much. And I know I've made you doubt that, and I'm so sorry. And I know I haven't honoured it like I should have. I've been a horrible person," I said. I gave him my hands and he pulled me up and sat me on his lap, holding me like a small child.

"How could I possibly blame you for that?" he whispered into my ear.

"I don't deserve you," I said, a fresh wave of tears breaking out.

"Stop talking like I'm a God. I'm not. Remember when we first wanted to get together, how I made out with Jenny? And abandoned you when you were so scared, just after we found out about Nikki? And how Jenny and I slept together? I hardly deserve you," he said. I stroked his cheek.

"You're perfect," I whispered, leaning up to kiss him lightly.

"You too. What's wrong with Tess?" he asked.

"Oh, Lucy and John are making out," I said.

"That bastard. Want me to go kick his ass?" he asked.

"Nope. Tess needs to figure out what she wants," I explained.

"She never was good at that," he said.

"Wow, deep. Oh, the ultrasound folk called today. It's all good," I said.

"Do you want a boy or a girl?" he asked.

"A girl, of course," I said.

"Yeah? Well I want a boy," he said stubbornly.

"We'll have a boy next," I suggested.

"Next?"

"Yeah, there might be a next. Who knows?" I said.

"But we should probably wait for the next one…" he said.

"Maybe. But I'm glad my sisters and I are so close in age," I said.

"Yeah. We'll see how we feel when the time comes," he suggested.

"So we will, Sawyer Scott, so we will," I said contentedly.